The Stockton Heat, the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, will move to Calgary ahead of the 2022-23 season. Stockton has been the Flames' top minor-league affiliate since the 2015-16 season.
Stockton was one of several California-based AHL affiliates that began play that season as part of the AHL’s newly-formed Pacific Division. They included the San Jose Barracuda (Sharks affiliate), Bakersfield Condors (Oilers affiliate) and Ontario Reign (Kings affiliate).
“Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation have appreciated the partnership with the City of Stockton since our arrival in 2015,” Heat general manager Brad Pascall said in a release. “We especially would like to say thank you to the Heat fans who loyally supported the team and continue to throughout the 2022 AHL Playoffs.”
The AHL said division alignment will be finalized at a later date.
The Heat played the 2020-21 season in Calgary due to the COVID-19 pandemic and border travel restrictions. According to HockeyDB, the Heat had the lowest average home attendance in the AHL this season at 1,713. They had the second-best points percentage in the Western Conference at .713.
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More details than just the announcement?
Hailey Salvian, Flames beat writer: Details relating to the transfer are in progress and the club said in a press release they will provide more information when finalized.
The big question is where they will play. The Saddledome currently houses the NHL Flames, WHL Hitmen and PLL Roughnecks. Can they add the AHL Heat? Or will that be a scheduling nightmare? Is there anywhere else for them to realistically play? Those are the details that remain to be answered.
The heat played in Calgary in the 2020-21 bubble season and perhaps the organization liked the setup.
Why did they do this?
Salvian: It’s easy to imagine simplicity and logistics come into play. It’s easier to keep tabs on players and their development when they're in the same city. It’s easier to call them up. And it can’t hurt to have your AHL players around the NHL players more often to show them what they need to do to get that much closer to making the jump to the NHL.
Six of seven Canadian teams will now have their affiliates in-market like Toronto, Montreal or Winnipeg, or within two hours like Ottawa or Vancouver.
The Flames won’t have to fly across time zones for callups anymore. And they’ll avoid any future potential border issues as we saw in the last two years with the pandemic.
How will this help?
Salvian: Similar to the reasons stated above, players will be in a big NHL city. They’ll be able to play in front of the NHL front office more often to provide bigger sample sizes to more members of the NHL club. It won’t need to be a high-pressure special trip for the GM anymore. Whether they will be at the Saddledome is up in the air but the players will be closer to NHL medical staff, trainers and facilities.